The Grocery Manufacturers Association has responded to a report by the Yale Rudd Center that claims firms continue to market high-sugar cereals to children despite their efforts to improve the nutritional quality of the products.
In the 2012 Cereal FACTS (Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score) report published last week – follow-up to a 2009 study by the same name – the organisation examined the nutritional quality of around 100 brands and 300 individual varieties of cereal marketed to children, families and adults. Researchers also examined the scope of advertising on TV, the Internet and social media sites.
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“Using the same methods as the original Cereal FACTS, researchers found that the children’s cereal landscape has not improved since then,” the reports authors noted. “While companies improved the nutritional quality of most cereals marketed to children, the authors report that total media spending to promote child-targeted cereals has increased by 34% from 2008 to 2011.”
According to the report, cereal companies continue to “push their least nutritious products directly” to children and children continue to see more advertising for cereals than for any other category of packaged food or beverage.
The GMA acknowledged that today’s ready-to-eat cereals are “more nutritious than ever”. It said leading cereal companies had voluntarily adopted strict advertising criteria through work with the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which had led to all of their ads seen on children’s programming promoting healthier diet choices and better-for-you products.
“It’s clear that cereal can play an important role in a balanced, healthy diet. To help parents make the best food choices for their families, cereal companies have joined the food and beverage industry writ large in accelerating efforts to provide parents with the products, tools and information they need.”
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By GlobalDataThe GMA said this includes introducing around 20,000 new product choices with fewer calories, reduced fat, sodium and sugar, and more whole grains since 2002, and pledging to remove 1.5trn calories from the food supply by 2015.
